Vegas trip report (Jan 17-20)

[bhiatt]

A few of my friends drive concrete trucks for a living, and asked me to come with them to Vegas for the World of Concrete seminar here this week. My white-collar background and lack of a CDL notwithstanding, I happily tag along. I've been here several times, but as I only started playing poker a year ago, I've never played here.

I arrived at the Flamingo Tuesday with $700 cash and 3 basic objectives:

1. Stay away from the table games, particularly blackjack, no matter how much I love it.

2. Play in at least 3 different rooms, 2 of which should be the Mirage and Bellagio.

3. Take a shot at the Bellagio 15/30 I've heard such good things about.

On with the report: The hotel won't let us check in until 4:30 p.m., and it's 1 p.m. when we arrive, so we wander around the casino and stumble upon a 3 card poker table. 3 of my friends sit down, and I do too, even though 3 card is one of the least EV games around. But I'm trying to be social, so I plunk down $60. It lasts roughly 60 seconds. I hate that stupid game.

Next, I join a few others at a $10 minimum blackjack table. Yes, I'm violating objective #1, but passing the time playing a little blackjack won't harm anything, will it? 40 minutes later I'm down $100 there. I use a $20 to get a pack of smokes and toss the $11 change on the table for one more hand. Nope. Now I'm down $171, and I've been here less than an hour. Everyone else seems to be doing OK, so I excuse myself and wander to the Flamingo poker room. They have a 2/4 limit game going, and I desperately need a cheap form of gambling to pass the time until our room is ready, so I join it.

The Flamingo room was ordinary, and the staff--dealers, floormen, waitresses--were fine. But the 2/4 game there was excruciatingly weak-passive. In 40 minutes there I saw no preflop raises, 2 different players limp AA or KK, countless others limping AK, AQ, QQ-99, and an average of 7 to a flop. It truly was like a .01//02 limit game online. I received little to play with, and had only one hand of note: After checking Qd2h in the big blind with the usual 7-8 limpers, I get a flop of KdJd10D. I bet my OESFD to the river, then get raised by the Ad (the fourth diamond hit the turn). Guess I wasn't so open-ended, after all. Somehow, I manage to lose $50 at this game, mostly from that missed draw, a few low-to-medium pockets that didn't connect, and a few more missed draws. I leave stuck a total of $220, and I haven't even checked into my room yet.

Finally, mercifully, we get into the room, and I call it a day. We go to Toby Keith's restaurant in Harrahs for dinner (I hate country music with a passion, but the chicken fried steak was among the best I've had), and then while most of the crew heads to the casino for more gambling, I am in bed and asleep by 9 p.m. Tomorrow will be better, right?

Wednesday: I awaken at 5:30 a.m. Everyone else will be going to the convention today, which leaves me the entire day to play poker. Feeling refreshed and psyched, I head over to the Bellagio. They have 3 tables going--the 15/30, which evidently goes around the clock, a 2/5 NL game, and a 4/8 limit game. I watch the 15/30 wistfully for a minute, then get seated at the 4/8.

The Bellagio room is terrific. The floor was friendly, not condescending as often reported (though the hour of the day might have had something to do with this). The photographs of poker players give the room a classic ambiance. Bobby's room was empty, but I gawked inside in between hands. All dealers were competent and friendly. One, an oriental woman named My if I'm not mistaken, missed a few raises and bets, but nothing disastrous. Another, Sky, finished his shift at the 2/5 NL and joined us at the 4/8.

As much as I liked the room, my game was struggling. I did get AA against KK for a nice pot, but after that it was more of the same from the Flamingo--AK and AQ that missed, low to medium pockets that missed, top pair or top two losing to straights and flushes, etc. Four hours, 3 strawberry juliuses (as delicious as proclaimed), 3 bloody marys and a Corona later, I left stuck $170, for a grand total of over $400 counting my dinner expenses from Tuesday.

I walked out the Bellagio a bit anxious. I haven't been here a full day and my cash bankroll is down to a little over $200. I was hoping to be trying the 15/30 by now. Needless to say, this wasn't the plan. I decided to walk back to the room, shower, change and regroup.

After doing so, I stroll past the IP on my way to the Mirage, and decide to pop in looking for a cheap NL game. The room is doing its daily poker lesson, so that's not happening. On the way out, I stop by the $5 minimum champagne blackjack tables and take a $40 shot. It lasts 10 minutes. This is really starting to piss me off.

I head to the Mirage and get seated immediately at a 3/6 game. I then began a 15 hour poker odyssey that, alas, would not end with me dominating the 20/40 game there.

Initially, the 3/6 table was dominated by local nits. My third hand after sitting there, I limp UTG+1 with AJ offsuit. Big blind raises and I call. Flop comes A-7-7 and I raise the big blind's flop bet to $6. Some nit behind me calls down and tables AQ at showdown. Ugh. A few hands later. I raise AQ out of the hijack after the same guy limped with a few others. Flop comes ace high, the ace being a club. I bet and get 3 callers, including villain. Turn is a club. I bet and everyone drops except him. River is the Q of clubs and the SOB check-raises me. I consider 3 betting but am reasonably sure he caught his runner runner, and he did.

The afternoon dissolves into a mishmash of monsters losing to draws, too many Coronas to count, and an occasional small pot. By 6 p.m. my original $100 buy-in is gone, and I pull my last $100 out of my pocket. Then I catch a rush. By 10 p.m. I have over $300 in front of me. I take a break and hit CPK for a pizza. Life, and Vegas, are very good right now.

I go back, hoping to build a bankroll. If I can get it up to $400, I'll take a shot at the 6/12 before calling it a night. By 2 a.m. I'm still there, with a little over $200. Despite the fact that I've been drinking non-stop for about 18 hours, I feel okay. I remember that the room brings sandwiches for the players around 5 a.m., and decide to play until then.

I should have left. I dump a ton with 1010 when I can't detect a straight on a board of 810Q. Around 3, a Canadian guy shows up, clearly looking to donk it up. He starts playing every hand, and while his accent and sense of humor are entertaining, he's getting under my skin. I limp henind him from the button with K10o and flop top two, with 2 clubs out there. Mad Canadian bets and I raise. "Nice hand sir, but I must 3 bet you," he tells me. Turn is a club and I somehow fail to recognize that he's betting his club draw on the come. I drop another pile on that hand. I'm clearly not playing well, and I'm certainly intoxicated, but dammit, I want those free sandwiches. So I keep at it. At 5 a.m., I fold JJ to a turn raise on an ace-high board, and stumble out of the room with $10 in my pocket. The sandwiches would come between 5:30 and 6, I was told. I almost made it.

I wake up Wednesday at 11 a.m. I'm seriously hung over, and it takes a while for the night's events to come back to me. A couple of guys want to rent a car to go to Hoover Dam, and although I've seen it before, I can think of nothing better than staying out of the casinos for a day. I pull out $50 from my ATM card for expenses and head to the dam. After dinner, I'm in bed by 8 p.m. I could get more money to attempt a comeback, but I lack the heart to gamble any more, and I really don't feel well.

We're heading back today, and I'm at the airport typing this up. I'd say it was a good time no matter what I lost, but that would be lying. I'm disgusted that I lost $200 quickly on the table games I swore I would avoid. I'm unhappy with my poker game, which apparently still has some holes, even though I was on the wrong end of some draws more often than usual. And I still feel hungover from my alcholic marathon on Wednesday. And now a snowstorm is descending upon Chicago, threatening to delay or even cancel my flight home. Ugh.

You know how you feel at the airport at Vegas waiting to leave--tired, hung over, sometimes broke, feeling like you will sleep for a week when you get home? Yeah, I'm there now.

Still, I love this place. Can't wait to go back for what (hopefully) will be a more successful trip.

[zuluking]

Good report. You were seriously underfunded for a trip like this though.

[giant sand]

That was a good read. I was in Vegas the same time as you, and played at some of the games you played in (eg Bellagio 4/8 and Mirage 3/6). I'm too jet-lagged to do much now, but may add my thoughts about my trip tommorrow. And yes, your bank wasn't big enough . . .

[bernie]

Cool report.

You stayed at the Flamingo and don't have a story of seeing any hookers? [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Want a cheap game to pass some time? The MGM, the horseracing game rocks! $10 lasts a long time.

b

[jpg777]

[ QUOTE ]

Want a cheap game to pass some time? The MGM, the horseracing game rocks! $10 lasts a long time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sigma Derby is the [censored]!

[bhiatt]

Got home an hour ago--thankfully, the snowstorm hasn't hit yet, so my flight came in on time.

Yeah, I was underrolled. I'm self-employed, and despite shaking down everyone who owed me money, $700 was all the cash I could scrape together in the 2 weeks leading up to the trip. I did have some dough in my checking account, but I left it alone. I was hoping to win some money early and have enough to try the Bellagio 15/30 for $600 or so, but obviously that didn't happen.

As far as hooker stories go. . . I forgot to mention a funny one (not involving one of the skanky Flamingo hookers though). One of my friends apparently called someone from one of those "magazines" they hand out on the strip. She came to the room about an hour after I crashed. My friend negotiated a BJ for $100 and received it in the bathroom. Around an hour or so after that, I woke up to take a leak. I go into the bathroom and the prick had forgotten to flush the toilet. The condom was floating on the surface, its contents leaking to the top like oil from a sunken ship. EEEEEEEEWWWWWW. Needless to mention, he got some crap from me the next day.

[MrMon]

Not that I intend to play 15/30 when I go at the end of February, but what is an adequate stake to play that sort of game? Based on my standards, I wouldn't feel comfortable with less than 1500 to start with 1500 in reserve, plus 6000 somewhere else. Isn't 300 BB pretty much the standard?

[MCS]

[ QUOTE ]
Cool report.

You stayed at the Flamingo and don't have a story of seeing any hookers? [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Want a cheap game to pass some time? The MGM, the horseracing game rocks! $10 lasts a long time.

[/ QUOTE ]

YES YES YES YES
OH MAN
I LOVE THAT GAME

[sternroolz]

Well the guy is obviously just looking to take a shot. So BR requirements are kinda out the door. That said, I usually like to have at least 50 BB or so to give myself a decent shot at winning some money in a game. I really would not take a shot in a loose/passive game like the $15-30 at Bellagio without $1000-$1500 I could afford to lose.

[ QUOTE ]
Not that I intend to play 15/30 when I go at the end of February, but what is an adequate stake to play that sort of game? Based on my standards, I wouldn't feel comfortable with less than 1500 to start with 1500 in reserve, plus 6000 somewhere else. Isn't 300 BB pretty much the standard?

[/ QUOTE ]

[radek]

[ QUOTE ]
Good report. You were seriously underfunded for a trip like this though.

[/ QUOTE ]